BigFix - Installing BigFix

Setting up BigFix is straightforward, but I wanted to give a step-by-step guide of what the install looks like.?Setting up an environment the first time there is a few key things needed to be done and highlighted so you can have a great environment for years to come.

This guide is strictly informational please refer to the official documentation and capacity planning guide for sizing requirements for hardware, software, and network requirements.?

Capacity Planning Guide to make sure you have the correct hardware for the size of your environment - https://bigfix-mark.github.io/

BigFix Server Requirements - https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/10.0/platform/Platform/Installation/c_tivoli_endpoint_manager_server.html

Requirements for installing BigFix

???????The BigFix Root Server

·????????Database Server can be local to the BigFix server or on remote SQL database cluster

·????????DNS Alias of what you want to name your environment

·????????Network port requirements - https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/10.0/platform/Platform/Installation/c_network_configuration.html

Once the root server and the database and the DNS alias have been created, we will

1.??????Activate the BigFix license using the installation generator

2.??????Install the BigFix Server

3.??????Install the BigFix Agent

4.??????Install the BigFix Console

5.??????Subscribe BigFix to content

Downloading and Installing the Installation Generator

1.??????Go to https://software.bigfix.com/ and download the latest version of the installation generator

2.??????Run the installation generator

3.??????Select Production for the license type

4.??????Select I want to install BigFix with a licenses authorization file

5.??????Browse to the path of the license authorization file you downloaded from the BigFix license portal

6.??????IMPORTANT STEP – This names your BigFix environment.?By default, the installer will pick the name of the server name you are installing on.?Think 3 to 5 years down the line you will want your BigFix environment named something like BigFixcompanyname etc.?This way you are not tied to a server name that will get retired in the future.?So ahead of time have your DNS alias ready to go before the install.?This cannot be changed after the install without starting a new environment.?

7.??????IMPORTANT STEP - Set the password to the license key and the key size.?It is important that you keep this password in a safe secure location that is backed.?This cannot be recovered so if you lose this password, you will lose access to updating your environment and will have to migrate to a new environment.?

8.??????Select the location to store the key pair file.?Back this file up to a safe and secure location.

9.??????Select activate over the internet to activate the BigFix License.?This will be the first test to verify the server is communicating with BigFix in the cloud.

10.??Create the masthead file which will be your license file

11.??Here we set the port BigFix uses to communicate.?By default, 52311 is the port BigFix communicates this where you can change this configuration.

Running the BigFix Server

1.??????This will launch the installation guide select Install or Upgrade server on this computer and this will launch the BigFix Server install

2.??????If you see this go ahead and reboot the computer to clear the pending restart

3.???????Here we will select the components to install.?Depending on the size of your environment you might to split up installing BigFix and Web reports on the same server.?

4.??????Browse to the private key file and input the password you set.?You also might need to browse to the masthead file that was created earlier.

5.??????Select Single or Master Database.?Setting up a DSA server you will select the second option on the replicated database.?But we are doing a first time install for this example

6.??????Create the local account used to login the BigFix Console.?We can configure LDAP later and use your active directory accounts and groups.

7.??????Here we are going to install BigFix on a local SQL.?But if you want to use a SQL cluster select remote.?NOTE If using a remote database, you will need to have SA rights to the database so the application can create the database.?You cannot prestage creating the database the installer will need to create the database.?Once the database is setup you can adjust the rights off of SA.

8.??????Set the path of where to install BigFix

9.??????Set the path of where to install Web Reports

10.??Since we are using a local database set the local system account to run Web reports.?If this was a remote database you will want to select service account

11.??Allow BigFix to make performance changes to the SQL database

12.??Restart your computer if it prompts you to restart

13.??You will be prompted to launch the BES Diagnostic Tool.?You can ignore the warnings or errors and close out of the tool

Installing the BigFix Console

1.??????Next we will want to go through and install the console

2.???????Login to the BigFix console using the local account you created earlier during the installation and minimize and we will go back to later

Installing the BigFix Client

1.??????Go back to the Installation Guide and install the BigFix Agent

Installing the WebUI

1.??????Go back to the installation guide and install WebUI (depending on your size you might need to install on a different machine for performance

2.??????Browse to the location of the private key, input the password of the private key, and the masthead file.?

5.??????In put the credentials to the database

Working in the Console

1.??????You will notice the BigFix Management domain, if you do not see it right away do not be alarmed as it might need to gather from the internet.?You should also see your BigFix server checking in now that we installed the agent.?

2.??????Once the BigFix Management domain gathers you can open the license overview dashboard

3.?From this point on it is matter of subscribing content.?For this example I will subscribe to BigFix Inventory.?Select the Inventory Tab and Agree to Terms

3.??????Select Enable to the BigFix Inventory Site

4.??????The site will gather in the background and it could take a few minutes.?You will see that the site is gathering in the console at the bottom right corner

5.??????Once the Site has gathered you will then need to subscribe computers to the site.?Each site has relevance built in such as only Windows computers can subscribe to windows patches, etc.?So unless you are trying to restrict certain sites from evaluating content subscribing all computers would be the best bet.?Once done save the changes.